Nuggets coach George Karl is feeling the love these days, and his team is keeping the good times rolling.

A sixth straight victory was the prize for beating the Los Angeles Clippers 109-104 on Friday night at the Pepsi Center. Karl likes his team, and he’ll get to coach it well into the future once he and the organization come to a multiyear contract extension. Those talks have begun in earnest between an organization that hopes to keep one of its greatest coaches ever, one who not only loves his team but the city as well.

“I love Denver,” Karl said. “It’s kind of my type of city. It’s seems like they have a lot of people like me here. Out-of-the-box guys, a little bit crazy here, a little bit different here. The thinking is accepted. The weather is incredibly good.”

And lately, so is the basketball.

The Nuggets have gone from a basically .500 team to back in the thick of things in the NBA’s Western Conference. And though Friday night’s effort against the Clippers was suspect in a lot of ways, the Nuggets still recorded the win. And, according to Karl, they remain a team he believes can challenge for an NBA title.

“I like where the team is,” Karl said. “I think it has a chance to be the best team I’ve ever had here. I’ve always felt that way.

“I was always amazed at the doomsday that people had us in at the beginning of the year. You all remember in January we were probably one of the top two or three teams in the league? Things that blew up on us, some of them weren’t under our control. They just happened.

“And then we get Al Harrington, who has already won us two or three games. We knew Ty (Lawson) and Arron (Afflalo) were ready for more responsibility, so even though we didn’t have a draft pick we felt the changes we made were going to make the team a better basketball team.”

The Nuggets still have to prove it on the court. There is uncertainty with Carmelo Anthony’s situation but even without Kenyon Martin, the Nuggets are starting to become the team they want to be.

Against the Clippers, they gutted out a win in circumstances that most times would net a loss. They were on the wrong side of the points in the paint (52-24), shooting percentage (43.3 to 40.3) and fastbreak points (18-13). And they had more turnovers (19) than assists (17).

But the Nuggets continued to attack the lane. While the Clippers did well in keeping Denver out of the paint, they did so by fouling. A lot. Uncontrollably, it seemed. They finished with 37 personal fouls and the Nuggets cashed those in by making 45-of-59 free-throw attempts.

Anthony led the Nuggets with 26 points and five rebounds, and J.R. Smith added 21 points and four rebounds. Blake Griffin had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers.

And the Nuggets escaped.

“It’s an ugly game, an ugly win,” said Anthony, still recovering from the flu. “I don’t really know nothing else to say about that. I know our fans want us to come out and play hard the way we know how to play, but some nights it’s going to be like this. As long as we win, that’s all that matters. It’s all I care about.”

Nuggets Recap

What you might have missed

Chris Andersen left the game in the fourth quarter with a lower back contusion and did not return. He is day to day. . . . Nene fouled out for the first time this season. . . . George Karl notched his 998th victory.

Final thought

Ugly win, but a win. On a day when the Nuggets pledged to keep their coach, his team made him want to stay.

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